Stocktaking: matching the shelf to the stock on record

A stocktake is the dullest job in a shop and the most honest one. In BuySale it comes down to scanning items one after another: the scanner does not close after every code, what you have checked is kept on the server, and at the end you get a list of the items where the numbers differ.

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What a stocktake is and why your shop needs one

The number on record and the number on the shelf always drift apart: a seller hands something over without counting, goods break or go missing, an intake is typed in wrong, a returned item never makes it back to the shelf. A stocktake puts those two numbers side by side, shows the gap and brings your stock back to reality. A gap is not a crime; not noticing it for six months is.

In BuySale the count runs on its own screen inside the inventory section. You scan an item by its barcode, the app marks it as checked, and at the end it lists the products where the recorded quantity does not match what you counted, so the stock can be corrected accordingly. No separate sheet of paper, no spreadsheet and no calculator — the count starts and ends on one screen.

How often to do a stocktake

A shop that counts once a year always finds it hard — a year of drift cannot be explained in a single day. In a small shop it is easier to split the job up:

Once a month — a full count of every shelf.
Every week — the two or three shelves with your fastest-moving and most expensive goods.
When a new seller starts and when one leaves — it protects both of you.
After a big delivery or a holiday rush, on a quiet day.
On any day when the figure in the report does not look like what is on the shelf.

Before you start: half an hour of preparation

A count without preparation takes twice as long and is usually abandoned halfway. These few steps make it easy.

Give codeless goods a code: where there is no factory barcode the app generates your own in one tap — it starts with 20 and can never clash with a factory code. You print the label and stick it on.
If one product arrives with several codes — a case code, an old and a new one — attach them all to the same product card: whichever is scanned, the same item is found.
Export your stock to Excel so you have a “before” to compare against. The file holds the name, unit, quantity and sale price; cost-price columns appear only for someone allowed to see cost.
Charge the phone and check your connection: a stocktake runs over the internet (it is not part of the apps’ offline queue) — where the signal drops, scanning stops.
Tidy the shelves and pick your moment: if the same product sits in three places, one of them will certainly be missed. Start before opening or in the evening once trade has died down.

How the count goes — five steps

You start the count

You open the stocktake screen in the inventory section and switch on the scanner. Decide in advance which shelf you start from — it is best to work straight through, end to end.

You scan item after item

The scanner does not close after every code: you hold an item up to the camera and move on to the next. Zoom (1×, 1.5×, 2×, 3×) is there for tiny tags and a torch button for a dark shelf. A wrong number from a blurry frame will not get through: the code’s check digit is verified and the same code must be read several times over.

You stop and pick it up again

What you have checked is stored on the server. If you leave the screen, if your phone dies, or if you sign in from another phone, the count carries on from where you stopped — nothing has to be recounted.

You review the differences

At the end you get the list of products where the recorded quantity does not match the counted one. Read it slowly: half of it usually turns out to be a miscount or an item stored somewhere else.

You correct the stock

Once the list has been worked through, the stock is brought to the real number on the shelf. From then on the low-stock warning and the order suggestion are both calculated from the right figure — in jewellery and phone shops neither of those two is shown at all, because there each card is a single item.

You found a gap — what to do next

Do not read every gap as theft. The usual order of causes is this:

You miscounted — count that shelf again, with someone else.
The item is somewhere else: the back room, the window display, a box under the counter.
The intake was typed in wrong: one quantity arrived and another was recorded.
The goods broke or spoiled. BuySale has no separate write-off button — such an item is not on the shelf, so it is not counted and it leaves your records through this correction.
The same gap keeps appearing on the same product and on the same person’s watch. That is a different conversation, but only a regular count reveals it — next steps are in our article on staff theft.

The correction is written into the database, but the app has no separate screen yet showing a movement log of who changed what and when. So keep the Excel file you exported before the count: comparing two files is the simplest way to see what changed by the next one.

Restarting the count needs the owner’s confirmation

Wiping half a day of counting with one tap is the most painful mistake there is. So to start the count from scratch a confirmation code is sent to the shop owner’s Telegram, and until that code is entered the checked items stay put. Neither an employee nor an accidental tap can do it — which means you can hand the count to a seller without fearing their work will vanish in one touch.

Worth knowing in advance

We do not claim what is not there — these conditions apply directly to a stocktake.

A stocktake runs over the internet (the apps’ offline mode does not cover it): scanning stops where there is no signal and continues once it is back.
The inventory section opens for an employee only with its own permission, and seeing the cost price takes another one: the seller you put on the count can count the goods without ever seeing what they cost you.
Starting the count over requires a confirmation code, and that code arrives in the shop owner’s Telegram.
In jewellery and phone shops each item is its own card and a sold one (stock at zero) drops out of the list — here the count runs item by item rather than by quantity.
There is no separate write-off section: the stock of damaged or missing goods is corrected through the stocktake itself.
If there are unfinished transfers between branches, do not count goods in transit — they would be counted twice. The stocktake screen warns you about such transfers; finish them first.

Questions about stocktaking

What if I cannot finish the count in one day?

You do not have to. Checked items are stored on the server: leave the screen, run the battery flat or sign in from another phone, and the count resumes exactly where you left it.

How do I count an item with no tag or a torn code?

For goods with no factory code the app generates your own code starting with 20 and prints a label straight away — best done before the count. If the tag is torn, you type the code by hand in the field inside the scanner, at least six digits.

What do I do if the scanner stops reading at the shelf?

Turn the zoom up (1×, 1.5×, 2×, 3×) for a tiny tag, switch the torch on at a dark shelf and, if the phone has more than one rear camera, change camera. While the camera is open there is a reset-scanner button at the bottom of the screen along with which camera is running; if the code still will not read, type it in by hand.

Can an employee wipe the count?

No. To start the count from scratch a confirmation code is sent to the shop owner’s Telegram, and until it is entered the checked items stay as they are.

How do I write off broken goods?

There is no separate write-off button. The item is not on the shelf, so it is not counted, and it leaves your records when the stock is corrected at the end of the stocktake.

Does keeping an eye on stock get easier after a count?

Yes, because from then on the warnings are calculated from the right figure: batches with a week or less left before expiry appear as their own list. The list of products that fall below your low-stock threshold and the supplier order suggestion are built from the same numbers — though neither of those two is shown in jewellery or phone shops: there each card is a single item, and that same ring or that same IMEI never comes back.

Prepared by: the BuySale team · Spotted a mistake? Tell us on Telegram

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